Alaska woman in hot sauce case spared jail time

Alaska woman in hot sauce case spared jail time

August 29th, 2011 in News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - An Alaska woman convicted of punishing her adopted Russian son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth was spared immediate jail time on Monday.

Thirty-six-year-old Jessica Beagley was given three years of probation, a 180-day suspended jail sentence and a $2,500 fine - also suspended - after she was convicted last week of misdemeanor child abuse.

Prosecutors say she used a videotape of herself punishing the 7-year-old boy as a ploy to get on the "Dr. Phil" TV show.

Beagley had faced a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $10,000 fine. She and her husband, Gary, an Anchorage police officer, adopted the boy and his twin brother in 2008.

The boys were 5 years old at the time and had spent three years in an orphanage.